- THE relevance of such an arcane and peculiar tradition as alchemy to the modern world will naturally seem unimaginable to many. And yet at the heart of Western alchemy
lies an esoteric source of transformation equal to the timeless wisdom of the East, a secret treasure
for the few - if not the many - who can recognise the parallel between their own inner
development and the goal of alchemy - the transformation of the base into the noble.
Alchemy's descent into mockery must have seemed complete when, in 1783, the English chemist and alchemist James Price took his own life rather than go before his peers in the Royal Society to prove his claim to transmute mercury into gold. Less than two centuries later however a new understanding arose in the field of depth psychology, and today alchemy's influence on our culture enjoys growing recognition and respect. The school of analytical psychology founded by C. G. Jung (1875-1961) gained historical depth through Jung's extensive researches into the alchemical tradition. It was his work which threw a new and penetrating light on this age-old subject, a subject which, like one of its oldest symbols, the phoenix-like Uroboros, has shown itself capable once again of renewal and revival.
Anyone acquainted with Jung's ideas will be aware of the great significance he attached to the age-old symbol of the mandala - a symbol uniting opposites. Drawing on mandala symbolism in alchemy, natural philosophy and mythology, this book explores the meaning of an individual mandala as a representation of the alchemical opus, as it is understood within the context of Jungian psychology. Such a connection with alchemy was not intentional; rather what began as 'subjective fantasy' subsequently found deeper reflection in the prolifically illustrated alchemical works, thus providing an á priori perspective extending over many centuries. It was Jung who first discovered this parallel in relation to dreams, fantasies and other expressions of unconscious activity, which today are generally discarded by our extravert and rational attitude as subjective, suspect and least of all meaningful. What Jung rediscovered in alchemy was a symbolic type of illumination that the alchemists called the lumen naturae, the light of nature, which they regarded as an inspirational source of guidance, healing and transformation. For Jung, this 'natural' light emanates from the predisposition of the unconscious mind to produce culturally conditioned yet essentially universal or 'archetypal' images, which by their collective nature both include and transcend the personal. Throughout alchemy's long history the lumen naturae remained a great secret - even to the alchemists themselves - because symbols are not mere signs, but rather natural yet enigmatic images of a hidden process of transformation which is as fundamentally obscure today as ever, despite the invaluable benefit of a new psychological language.
